Notice regarding capital and business alliance with Kitamura Co., Ltd. to strengthen Photolife's proposal capabilities

2017.05.15 Press Releases
Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd.

Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. (Head office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Muneaki Masuda; hereinafter referred to as CCC) is pleased to announce that it has today entered into a capital and business alliance with Kitamura Co., Ltd. (Head office: Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture; President and CEO: Hiroyuki Hamada; hereinafter referred to as "Kitamura") and is scheduled to become Kitamura's largest shareholder (29.7%) on June 1st.
As a planning company that proposes lifestyles, CCC creates "culture infrastructure - an environment that makes people and the world more fun and happy" through platforms such as lifestyle-oriented commercial facilities such as TSUTAYA, Tsutaya Bookstore, and T-SITE, as well as the nationwide common point card service "T Point (T Card)."Meanwhile, Kitamura has placed "the happiness experienced through photography" at the core of its corporate value creation, boasting the largest share in Japan for photo print sales, a network of 1,240 stores including camera stores and studios, and 8 million Kitamura Net members, and is actively working to promote omni-channel sales.

CCC has always proposed a lifestyle that involves enjoying photography (photolife), but in response to changes in the way people enjoy photography, this partnership will strengthen our comprehensive photolife proposals in order to further grow this field. By combining Kitamura's store network, membership base, specialized human resources and know-how with CCC's lifestyle proposal capabilities, store planning capabilities and marketing capabilities, we will continue to develop products and services that offer even greater customer value.

Details of the business partnership

(1) Improving the profitability of Kitamura's existing imaging business and adding value to both companies' imaging businesses
(2) Restructuring Kitamura's store network and developing new business formats
(3) Accelerating omnichannel strategies by utilizing the databases of both companies
(4) Establishing new products, services, and business models
(5) Joint development of unique mobile-related products and services
(6) Kitamura's business improvement and cost efficiency

Materials related to this matter

Notice regarding capital and business alliance with Kitamura Co., Ltd. to strengthen Photolife's proposal capabilities

Inquiries regarding this matter
Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. Public Relations
TEL: 03-6800-3570